With a new rewrite of municipal codes in hand and the city’s first full-time codes enforcement office expected to be hired in late January, the Eudora City Commission discussed Monday goals for more effective codes enforcement.

Commissioners approved the update of city codes that City Clerk Pam Schmeck completed. Among its provisions is the right of city codes enforcement officers to issue citations for violations.

In a presentation to the City Commission, city management intern Jason Rohloff shared a proposed strategy for ensuring the worst of the city’s code violations were addressed. The strategy was written with the expectation the full-time codes enforcement officer, a position funded in the 2017 budget, would start next year. The strategy was created with the aid of city staff, including city codes administrator Curt Baumann.

Objectives of the strategy were to maintain and sustain structures, premises and areas in the city that might cause safety concerns; create an internal rating system to prioritize violations; start a citywide education system of common code violations; and create a streamlined system to resolve violations that treats all property owners fairly and gives priority to prevention so that fines and enforcement tools can be used only when necessary, Rohloff said.

City Manager Barack Matite said it would be commissioners who would set code violation priorities, while Baumann added the top priority would be given to complaints from citizens.

Certified letters would continue to be mailed for code violations when property owners didn’t respond to verbal or written notifications from codes enforcers of noncompliance, commissioners were told. Once accepted, the certified letters give property owners 10 days to address concerns or request a hearing before the City Commission.

Commissioners agreed that the problem has been violators often refuse to accept the certified letters. Baumann and Matite explained that citations can now be issued even if the letters aren’t accepted and that they will be presented in Eudora Municipal Court to document the city’s effort to address violations. Habitual violators who have been sent letters in the past could receive citations without additional certified letters, Baumann said.

It was emphasized that the goal was to avoid citations through courtesy calls and informational letters when code violations are first cited. Community education through such venues as the city newsletter, social media accounts and its newly updated website, which goes live Tuesday, would be employed to reduce violations. That effort would seek to spread the word of when bulk trash collections are scheduled.

In other business, the commission:

• Set a Jan. 23 date for a public hearing and consideration of the creation of a tax increment financing district for the Nottingham property the city bought from the Eudora school district in 2015 for $85,000. The TIF district’s boundaries include the undeveloped Hoover Addition north of 14th Street from the 15-acre old Nottingham school site and adjoining Laws Field. A TIF district would allow the added property, sales and franchise taxes collected from the site’s redevelopment to be used to finance needed infrastructure improvements at the site.

In May, the city signed a predevelopment agreement with CBC Real Estate Group, of Kansas City, Mo., in which the city agreed to exclusively work with CBC on the Nottingham property’s redevelopment while the company looked for future tenants. The city and developer will eventually enter into a development agreement that ties down the responsibilities of both parties in the property’s development.

• Approved an updated fee schedule that increases electrical rates 5 percent, sewer rates 4 percent and water rates 3 percent starting Jan. 1. The rate increases were built into the 2017 budget approved in August.

• Approved a contract with VSR Design to design the South Sports Complex for a cost not to exceed $24,235. The work will only include a survey and the schematic design of the soccer and football field complex to be built between Eudora Middle and High schools. The city will then look to raise money before asking the firm to complete bid-ready construction plans.

In response to a question from a resident attending the meeting, Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin said the complex would be a six-fold increase from what the city now has and not a quick, temporary fix to the city’s recreational needs.